The lat­est book in the Ruby Cel­e­brates series focus­es on the hol­i­day of Hanukkah. This time, Ruby and her fam­i­ly spend the hol­i­day with her cousin, Avi­tal, and Ruby tries to ensure that Avi­tal enjoys the cel­e­bra­tion despite the fact that her moth­er is trav­el­ing for work and won’t be back in time to join.

The pro­tag­o­nists are charm­ing, com­pas­sion­ate, well-behaved chil­dren. A touch of pleas­ant intrigue keeps the plot mov­ing at a com­fort­able pace. The par­ents serve as role mod­els, shar­ing fam­i­ly duties, and a smile-induc­ing, mag­i­cal sur­prise end­ing suits the Hanukkah theme.

The book’s bright­ly col­ored illus­tra­tions are delight­ful, and the expla­na­tion of the Hanukkah sto­ry includ­ed at the back of the book is clear and well-told. The append­ed rules for the tra­di­tion­al Hanukkah game of drei­del are easy to fol­low, round­ing out this attrac­tive sto­ry of a close-knit fam­i­ly cel­e­brat­ing with joy.